Police chief says there’s been a ‘drastic drop’ in Arab community homicides

Police chief Daniel Levy said at an officer conference yesterday that there has been a “drastic drop” in murders in Arab communities, the Walla news site reports.

“We see a drop in shootings in Arab society — there’s been a drastic drop in the monthly murder rate. We’re in the best period in the past five years,” the news site quotes Levy as saying.

Figures released by the Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog on Thursday, after the killings of 57-year-old Ziyad Bashara in Taybe and 20-year-old Ayman Jaramneh in Muqeible, indicated 2026 still had the highest-ever number of Arab homicide victims up to that point.

But the figures also showed a drop in the rate of increase over 2025 — the bloodiest calendar year on record, with 252 Arab homicide victims.

According to the figures, the killings of Bashara and Jaramneh brought to 160 the number of Arab homicide victims this year, up from 156 Arab homicide victims by the same point in 2025 — a 2.5 percent rise.

On July 12, after the killing of 32-year-old Ibrahim al-Zayuti in Jaffa, the Abraham Initiatives said his death brought this year’s number of Arab homicide victims to 155 — a 16% rise over the 134 victims by the same point in 2025.

The six killings since July 12 are fewer than the number that the Abraham Initiatives recorded in every calendar month since August 2022, non-inclusive.

That year had seen 116 homicides in Arab communities, 10 fewer than in 2021, which at the time was the bloodiest on record, according to the Abraham Initiatives.

The number of homicides more than doubled in 2023 and has since remained at similar levels. The period coincides with the tenure of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who took office in late 2022. The coexistence watchdog has accused him of gutting a program put in place by the previous government to combat crime in Arab communities.